Former President George H.W. Bush sits in a golf cart on the sidelines before the game.

Former President George H.W. Bush sits in a golf cart on the sidelines before the game.

Photo: Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle

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Texans running back Dennis Johnson prays before his first NFL start.

Texans running back Dennis Johnson prays before his first NFL start.

Photo: Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle

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Carolyn and John Hancock walk across the street to Reliant Stadium as Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Carolyn and John Hancock walk across the street to Reliant Stadium as Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Photo: Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle

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Solomon: Five things we learned in Texans' loss to Broncos

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Come on, admit it, you thought the Broncos were going to maul the Texans. Well, they did, finally running away with a 37-13 win. But it was 16-13 with the undisputed worst team in the league giving arguably the best team in the AFC a game entering the fourth quarter. Still, it’s 13 losses in a row and counting for Houston. Only one more of these things left. Not a lot left to learn, is there? Here we go anyway, with the five things we learned today:

1. That Peyton Manning is a decent quarterback.
Manning continued his excellent season with a fine, if not spectacular day. And that goes to show you how sweet his year has been that a game in which he completes 32 passes for 400 yards and four touchdowns wasn’t spectacular. Manning entered the game 3-4 with 11 touchdowns passes and 11 interceptions against Wade Phillips-coached defenses, and the Texans controlled him for much of the game today. Still, a sluggish offense couldn’t keep up and Manning eventually carved the Texans up enough for the victory.

2. There is still some fight in these Texans.
From J.J. Watt and D.J. Swearinger pumping the team up in a huddle 30 minutes before kickoff to Greg Jones almost starting a fight on the sideline after sustaining a big hit to Shiloh Keo celebrating a nice play, to Matt Schaub slamming the ball down after taking back-to-back sacks late in the third quarter, this was a team with only pride to play for, showing some. And if you saw Danieal Manning, who has been out for two months with a broken leg, on the sideline firing up his teammates, you saw a true leader. The fight died in the fourth quarter when the Broncos outscored Houston 21-0, but hey, at least the orange-clad fans, who were almost as loud as Texans fans, left the stadium happy.

3. Wade Phillips’ attention to detail can pay off. Somewhat.
You laughed when he brought officials to practice and had them throw flags on players. You laughed even more when you heard that he pulled players from practice for committing penalties, putting them into a childish-sounding timeout, but looks like it worked. The Texans didn’t commit their first penalty until the 9:40 mark of the third quarter. They made up for it late, with a few in the fourth quarter, but it was much better than we had seen recently.

4.Matt Schaub isn’t a quitter.
Say what you want about the former Pro Bowl QB, and he certainly deserves censure after his play early in the season, but Schaub didn’t pack it in and quit on his team or himself. He kept working, waiting. And he never complained. When the opportunity presented itself the first time, he tried to fire the team up vocally, which isn’t necessarily a huge part of his personality. He did likewise in Jacksonville, but both times failed to deliver a come-from-behind win. Sunday, back in the lineup for what is almost assuredly his last start at Reliant Stadium, Schaub looked solid for the most part. He extended plays, he dodged would-be tacklers in the pocket and he even took off on a scramble, something he is typically reluctant to do. He also made some excellent throws and even after Andre Johnson dropped a sure touchdown, Schaub handled it like a pro, moving outside the pocket to throw a strike to Keshawn Martin for a score on the next play. Schaub has a week left in his Texans’ career. He was good, the very good; bad, then very bad. He has a 46-41 record here as a starter, with one game to go. Not great, but not terrible.

5. Really? You’re still reading this and are expecting a fifth thing about a team that hasn’t won a game in almost four months? Come on, people. Go spend time with family. Go do some volunteer work. Tis the moment to not waste any more time worrying about a meaningless NFL game involving the Houston Texans.